Tag: West Yorkshire

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

A pub with a shelter

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Many pubs have shelters for their customers who choose to sit or stand outside the premises with their drinks, often in the form of gazebos or large umbrellas. The Hop Monkey in Halifax has taken things to a whole new level though, placing a shelter over the entire pub…

The Hop Monkey

Yashicamat 124G & Ilford XP2 Super. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 16 August 2025

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Around Dean Clough mill

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Another batch of pictures from Halifax, including at least one more that mimics one of Bill Brandt’s compositions from almost a hundred years previously. While the usage of this area has changed, much of the architecture remains the same as it would have been way back then.

Old Lane
On Old Lane
Danger! Barbed wire
Windows
Clough Mill
Beer casks
Fire escape
Streetlamp
Mill courtyard

Yashicamat 124G & Fujifilm Acros. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°. (except the final image, which was shot on Ilford XP2 Super and lab developed)

Taken on 16 August 2025

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

An homage to Bill Brandt

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Back in the early 1930s, German-born photographer Bill Brandt moved to the UK and began to document British society. Part of this work took place in the norther English town of Halifax, and included a photograph of a cobbled snicket (a narrow alleyway) which has become quite famous. Brandt’s version, which can be seen in this article was photographed in 1937, when the mills and factories were still in full industrial operation (indeed, you can see a small cloud of smoke at the top of Brandt’s picture from a chimney obscured by the top of the mill building).

The buildings in the area still exist today, although their occupancy has moved from industry (one of the world’s largest carpet factories at the time) to hotels, offices, and leisure spaces.

Brandt’s snicket still exists too, and has undoubtedly been photographed by many other photographers since, so while I was there, I made my own version. The snicket has a lot more weeds these days!

Homage to Bill Brandt

Yashicamat 124G & Fujifilm Acros. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°.

Taken on 16 August 2025

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Fire!

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Photojournalism isn’t something I tend to do. It’s not that often that I’m at the scene of something interesting enough to be classified as such.

However, on this occasion, I was. I posted about the events of this day way back on the 16th August (the day I witnessed the events), and here’s a recap of the bit in question (it happened after I’d been shooting some medium format pictures around the old mills in Halifax)…

After shooting a couple of rolls of film I decided to go find a cafe and get a drink and, as I was walking through the town centre, I noticed a police car besides which an agitated looking man and woman were speaking to an officer and gesturing to the building behind them – a jewelry shop occupied the ground floor, and above were another three floors of unknown use. I heard to woman talk about a fire, and what sounded like there being a gas cylinder in the room. Within a minute smoke had begun to emerge from a first floor window. More police arrived and started to make people retreat from the scene, saying there was a danger of explosion. Some people were still approaching the scene and were told in no uncertain terms to “get back!”.

Soon a huge amount of smoke began to emerge from the windows, reeking of whatever was burning in there, for a short period reducing visibility down the entire street, and the orange glow of flickering flames could be seen behind the smoky glass. Shortly afterwards a fire-engine turned up and soon a fireman was spraying water through the first floor windows. After a few minutes of this, the smoke started to diminish and more fire-officers entered the jewelry shop on the ground floor, having to rip open a security shutter to gain access. After watching for a while longer (and having taken a few photographs) it seemed like everything was under control and I decided to move on and find the cafe I was looking for.

There’s a short video of the blaze here and a story on the fire here. Thankfully no one was hurt.

Fire!
Fire!

Olympus 35 RC on Kodak Ultramax. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 16 August 2025

35mm · Film photography · Photography

A day at Yorkshire Sculpture Park (part 3)

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The final batch of pictures from my Yorkshire Sculpture Park visit. As previously, I’ve added a little information about the artworks below each picture, but you can find out more at the park’s website.

Seated Figure
Seated Figure by Sean Henry

Sean Henry makes detailed and life-like sculptures of anonymous figures, often in casual poses and deep in thought. They are usually based on members of the public or actors, and scaled either up or down, so they are never actually life sized. Seated Figure is a monumental 3 metres tall. The artist uses clay to model his works in the studio, before they are cast in bronze. (taken from the YSP website)

This piece can be seen from miles and has a commanding position looking out across the landscape from the top of a hill.

Charity
Charity by Damien Hirst

Charity is based on the Scope charity collection boxes that used to be common on British streets. It features a young girl wearing a calliper and cradling a teddy bear. It has a donate box asking people to ‘please give generously’. Hirst’s interpretation questions outdated ways of depicting disability and seeking charity. (taken from the YSP website)

The charity boxes that inspired this piece were a common sight when I was younger, although not with the additional flourish added by Hirst, which features the collection box pried open by a crowbar. I was amused and happy to note that crows had taken up residence within the open collection box and were carrying nesting material in there as I watched.

The Virgin Mother
The Virgin Mother by Damien Hirst

Damien Hirst’s The Virgin Mother stands at 10 metres tall and is the tallest sculpture at YSP. A powerful presence in the landscape, it is partly inspired by the historic sculpture Little Dancer of Fourteen Years(c.1881), by Edgar Degas. Hirst deliberately makes the materials look different than they are, for example The Virgin Mother is bronze painted to look like plastic. (taken from the YSP website)

This is a striking piece of sculpture and my picture doesn’t really give a sense of scale, with a full grown adult barely reaching the figure’s calves. It’s also slightly disturbing with the figure appearing intact from her left profile, only to reveal tissues, muscles, bone, and a fetus in her womb. Where her left hand crosses the demarcation between outside and inside, the fingers are severed.

Two Large Forms
Two Large Forms by Henry Moore

The colossal sculpture is impressive in both scale and composition, appearing very different from every angle and continuing the theme of points that almost meet, which appears in much of Moore’s work. (taken from the YSP website)

I’d originally intended to get the whole sculpture in frame when I took this shot, but I liked how the child gave a sense of scale to the piece, so moved the viewpoint.

Yashica Mat 124G & Kodak Tmax 100 (expired 2008). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 for 7 minutes @ 20°

Taken on 5 April 2025

35mm · Film photography · Photography

A day at Yorkshire Sculpture Park (part 2)

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More pictures from my Yorkshire Sculpture Park visit. Again, I’ve added a little information about the artworks below each picture, but you can find out more at the park’s website.

Wall Dale Cubed
Wall Dale Cubed – Sean Scully
Made for YSP, Wall Dale Cubed uses 1000 tonnes of Yorkshire stone from a local quarry and was constructed over many weeks. Importantly to the artist, this colossal work is built in the same way throughout, which connects to ancient stone walls in Ireland, so that ‘when looking at the outside of the block, one can feel the inside without being able to see it’. (taken from the YSP website)
Galaxy was a Memory, Earth is a Souvenir
Galaxy was a Memory, Earth is a Souvenir by Kimsooja
Kimsooja developed this elegant and towering conical sculpture in collaboration with scientists at Cornell University. The nanopolymer in which its panels are covered enhances the refractive qualities of light, giving an iridescent effect similar to that which occurs naturally on the wings of a butterfly or a beetle’s shell. It is responsive to changing light conditions and brought to life by sunlight on its surface. (taken from the YSP website)

The structure apparently has a mirrored floor which make it look like it pierces the earth below, although I didn’t walk close enough to it to see this aspect.
Peter's Fold
Peter’s Fold by Andy Goldsworthy

In Britain, folds have been made for hundreds of years as animal pens and Goldsworthy has developed the traditional fold to make contemporary sculptures. Peter’s Fold was built using drystone techniques by master wallers who have worked with the artist for many years. The Yorkshire sandstone was sourced from Hillhouse Edge Quarry in nearby Holmfirth. It is built around a common lime tree with distinctive epicormic growth, which occurs when dormant buds beneath the bark become active. (taken from the YSP website)

I decided to take the picture from a low vantage point on the grass. Unfortunately, due to the way TLR cameras work, I didn’t spot a stray blade of grass in front of the taking lens which resulted in a blurred smudge on the image. I’ve attempted to remove this and not done too bad a job (although you can probably see the joins if you look closely…)
A stump amongst the dafodils
Tree Stump by The Tree

This isn’t an actual artwork, but this lone tree stump surrounded by daffodils looked pretty photogenic, so here it is, in amongst it’s more famous fellow park residents.

Yashica Mat 124G & Kodak Tmax 100 (expired 2008). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 for 7 minutes @ 20°

Taken on 5 April 2025

35mm · Film photography · Photography

A day at Yorkshire Sculpture Park (part 1)

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Back in April I took a trip to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. The venue features indoor gallery spaces, but also a significant landscaped outdoor park dating to the 18th century. Throughout the park are an large array of sculpture and artworks of varying styles, types, designs, and sizes.

On this visit I took my trusty Yashica Mat 124G and a (potentially less trustworthy) roll of expired Kodak Tmax 100 film that had been sat in the freezer for several years. As you can see, there was no need to worry about the condition of the film, which has produced lovely results.

I shot the whole roll at the park and will post the pictures over the next few days. I’ve added a little information about the artworks below each picture, but you can find out more at the park’s website.

Djinn
Djinn – Bharti Kher

This huge, 5-metre tall bronze sculpture is very striking. It forms part of a series titled Intermediaries that take South Indian golu dolls as their starting point. These small, colourful clay figurines that are displayed in homes as part of the Navaratri festival depict gods and goddesses, animals and people.
Riace figures
Riace Figures – Elizabeth Frink

There are three of these figures gathered together, titled Riace II, III, & IV (although only two of them feature in my picture – I don’t know which ones).

The Riace figures are inspired by the 5th century BCE bronze sculptures that were rediscovered in the sea off the coast of the Riace region of Italy in 1972. Frink said ‘the original figures are very beautiful, but also very sinister, and that is what they are supposed to be’.
Buddha
Buddha – Niki de Saint Phalle

The black and white picture, while pleasing, doesn’t really do justice to the bold colours that make up the mosaic surfaces of the figure.
Sitting
Sitting – Sophie Ryder

Known as the Lady Hare – which Ryder describes a companion for the Minotaur – the work combines a female body with the head of a hare, a mystical creature in folklore.

Yashica Mat 124G & Kodak Tmax 100 (expired 2008). Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 for 7 minutes @ 20°

Taken on 5 April 2025

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Backstreet warehouses

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I took these pictures (indeed six of the shots on this roll of Tri-X) while walking between Leeds railway station and The Carriageworks, where the Photo North photography festival has been held the past couple of years.

I took a slightly meandering route, meaning I traversed this street off the more well traveled path, meaning I got to see these old buildings sitting nicely in the good light.

Doorside streetlamp
Doors and windows

Yashica Mat 124G & Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 for 8 minutes @ 20°

Taken on 12 April 2025